Red Bull Removes Taurine to Access French Market

France’s food safety agency AFSSA had previously not authorised the sale of Red Bull’s products due to the presence of taurine, an organic acid in the drinks, as its long term effects on the human body are not well known.

 Red Bull, in order to enter France,
removed the taurine ingredient and swapped it with arginine.

This swap in ingredients is a first as
Red Bull has never changed the formulation of its drink since the
creation of the company by Dietrich Mateschitz in 1987. The company,
however, stressed the fact that Red Bull’s beneficial effects are
the same in every single drink sold worldwide.

More recently the need for the company
to enter France increased as Red Bull also owns the Toro Rosso
Formula 1 racing team with one of the cars driven by a Frenchman,
Sebastien Bourdais. Bourdais is competing in the formula 1
championship for the first time this year and has become very popular
amongst French viewers.